DfT cycling data for OpenStreetMap

1. DfT cycling data
for OpenStreetMap
Martin Lucas-Smith
CycleStreets.net
@CycleStreets

2. What do we do?
CycleStreets Cyclescape
Cycle journey planner Campaign group toolkit
cyclestreets.net @cyclestreets blog.cyclescape.org @cyclescape

3. OpenStreetMap

4. OpenStreetMap
License cc-by-sa

5. OpenStreetMap
OpenCycleMap
License cc-by-sa

6. OpenStreetMap
“OpenStreetMap creates and provides free
geographic data such as street maps to anyone
who wants them.
“The project was started because most maps you
think of as free actually have legal or technical
restrictions on their use, holding back people
from using them in creative, productive, or
unexpected ways.”

7. Crowdsourcing principle
“Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a job
traditionally performed by a designated agent
(usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an
undefined, generally large group of people in the
form of an open call.”
http://crowdsourcing.typepad.com/

8. OpenStreetMap
Bike Hub app, uses CycleStreets routing

9. Mobile
 Other apps now
incorporating our
routing
 API - data interface
 Bike Hub – great
world-first iPhone
bike real-SatNav
 In the leading Boris
Bike app, ‘London
Cycle’

10. CycleStreets Journey planner

11. Adding data
Potlatch 2 – www.openstreetmap.org (www.geowiki.com)

12. Adding data
Potlatch 2 – www.openstreetmap.org (www.geowiki.com)

13. DfT data situation back in Jan 2011...
Transport Direct CJP CycleStreets
www.transportdirect.info/Web2/JourneyPlanning/FindCycleInput.aspx www.cyclestreets.net
£2.4 million (from tax) £28k
Jan 2011: 92,000 journeys planned Jan 2011: 458,000 journeys planned
(dated Jan 2011) (dated Jan 2011, reached 1.4m as of now)
£26.09 per journey 6p per journey
£1m – budget for 2011 £130k needed
32 areas (professionally surveyed) UK-wide (but depends on OSM completeness)

14. CycleStreets usage: considerable growth

15. UKGov
Working with the DfT through their data contractor to
get the data into OpenStreetMap (funded project)
DfT have been very receptive to the open data potential
We are working to ensure that CycleStreets is the
solution of choice
We think cycle journey planning is more effective when
done by local people using Open Data

16. Big Society –compliant
We tick all the boxes:
Collaborative: involves local people
Low cost: datasets have no license fee,
agile delivery
Trusted: for the people, by the people
Open Data
http://www.green-alliance.org.uk
Citizen involvement: combines skills
and input of large numbers of people
(collecting data)
Quality delivery: problems can be
fixed easily
Transparency: more people oversee
the data and spot problems or potential
improvements
Cabinet Office

17. Opening
the DfT’s
Cycling
data

18. Getting it into OSM
 OSM community rightly very wary of
automated imports
 Duplicates existing data
 Can’t be sure it reflects on-the-ground
 If you want to read more about why
automated imports are bad, see the
TIGER data fixup project:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/TIGER_fixup

19. DfT doing it the right way
 Releasing as Open Government License
 NOT just dumping it in data.gov.uk and hope
someone uses it
 Getting the geometries in sync
 Converting the attributes to OSM tags
 Fixing up data problems upstream
 Funding tool work
 Adds functionality to existing OSM toolset
 Tool development will help other projects
 CycleStreets the go-between (with funding)

20. Data dictionary
Describes translation of DfT GML attributes to
OSM tags – is being pre-converted

21. Merging
tool
Created by
Andy Allan

22. Merging
tool

24. David Earl
Martin Lucas-Smith,
www.CycleStreets.net
Twitter: @cyclestreets
info@cyclestreets.net